'Real Housewives of New Jersey' Reunion Part 2 Recap: Teresa Was SO Close to Changing People's Minds About Her

Part two of The Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion started off as big a snooze-fest as last week (hooo daddy was that boring!), but at around 45 minutes in, shit got real. Andy started grilling Teresa and Joe Giudice about the fraud charges they're facing, and instead of dodging the questions and giving canned "It's in God's hands"-like answers, Teresa actually admitted that she's scared. And although Joe didn't say boo during the segment, it was more than obvious from his furrowed brow and inability to avert his gaze from the floor that he's damn scared, too.

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Since the Giudices' 39 counts of fraud charges were made public, I've gone back and forth between feeling bad for them and feeling like it's about damn time since clearly Tre and Joe think they're above the law. Sunday was a time for the former feelings. For the first time, Teresa actually seemed human. For a short while.

She admitted to feeling anxious about the unknown. She admitted to crying herself to sleep at night. She admitted that the reason she puts on a happy face is because she's the only person in her family who's holding it together. (She also said she doesn't know why this is happening to them, and she kind of lost me there.) It was almost uncomfortable to watch. It's so easy to make snarky comments about Teresa and Joe when they're acting like clueless buffoons on RHONJ, but when they actually display a shred of humility -- okay, maybe humility is the wrong word -- when they actually seem frightened about what could be, you remember that they're parents; they've gotta be terrified of leaving their children behind every waking moment.

It seemed like Teresa really turned a corner this season. She wasn't lashing out at everyone at the drop of a dime; she apologized to people; she even seemed to have a better understanding of the English language. And the reunion was no exception. Sure, she and Melissa had their grating tit for tat throughout both shows, but Teresa seemed, I don't know, a bit softer. Like maybe she had truly evolved over the past year.

But then the last two minutes of the show happened.

When Andy asked if anyone had any parting words, Teresa took the opportunity to bash Caroline for calling her superficial months ago. Caroline explained her reasoning behind the comment, and well, let's be honest here, Teresa is superficial, but Teresa couldn't help but harp on it. And not only did she completely belabor her pseudo-sentiment that she was hurt, she also decided to throw in how every time Caroline says something, Melissa and Kathy feel the need to "hop on the bandwagon" and bully her, too. An entire season undone in all of 30 seconds.

And with that, all those warm and empathetic feelings toward Teresa vanished. She really just doesn't get it. And I'm not quite sure if anything -- save for jail? -- will change that.